TWO second half goals by Blackpool condemned Ipswich Town to their fourth league defeat in five matches.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher tapped in Billy Clarke’s attempted shot just four minutes after the restart before Barry Ferguson struck the crucial second shortly after the hour mark following good work from Brett Ormerod.

Town never really got going in the second half and certainly never recovered from Taylor-Fletcher’s opener.

And they got what they deserved against the composed Seasiders – the Blues only having one shot on target all afternoon.

Daryl Murphy should have brought the visitors back into the game, when he shot meekly past the near post when played in by Keith Andrews.

Amazingly, Murphy then spurned a second chance in a carbon-copy incident.

The left-winger finally got a shot on target in injury time but Matt Gilks saved well at his near post.

But it was Blackpool who always looked more likely to score again and David Stockdale did well to parry Ludovic Sylvestre’s late shot.

Though little in the way of clear-cut chances in the first half, there was more than enough decent football on show to keep both sets of supporters happy with a cracking atmosphere by the coast.

Both sides looked to gain the early initiative with some good possession and Ormerod hit the side-netting for the hosts who then thought they should have had a penalty when Taylor-Fletcher went over the leg of new signing Danny Collins.

It took 26 minutes for the first corner to arrive and it could have brought the first goal for Ipswich but Ibrahima Sonko could not get a clean contact on Jimmy Bullard’s deep corner.

Stockdale saved from Kevin Phillips at the second attempt before Andrews and Carlos Edwards failed to test Matt Gilks’ goal from distance.

Town boss Paul Jewell opted for the 31-year-old Collins over Damien Delaney, who started on the bench.

Lee Bowyer also returned to the starting line-up after Mark Kennedy was a late withdrawal with a calf injury.

Sonko shook off his hamstring strain to start alongside Collins while Jimmy Bullard made his first start since signing on a permanent deal.

STARTING LINE-UPS

Town: Stockdale, Edwards, Sonko, Collins, Cresswell, Leadbitter, Andrews, Bowyer, Bullard, Murphy, Chopra. Subs: Delaney, Emmanuel-Thomas, Lee-Barrett, Scotland, Ainsley

Blackpool: Gilks, Baptiste, Cathcart, Evatt, Hill, Southern, Ferguson, Taylor-Fletcher, Clarke, Phillips, Ormerod. Subs; Bogdanovic, Sylvestre, Halstead, Philips, Hurst